Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a distinguished French writer, poet, journalist, and aviator. Born on 29 June 1900 in Lyon, he hailed from an aristocratic family. Known for his remarkable novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince), Saint-Exupéry also wrote extensively about his aviation adventures in books like Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.

Saint-Exupéry trained as a commercial pilot in the 1920s, flying airmail routes across diverse continents such as Europe, Africa, and South America. When World War II erupted, he joined the French Air Force and bravely flew reconnaissance missions until France's armistice with Germany in 1940. Afterward, he lived in exile in the United States from 1941 to 1943, during which he published Flight to Arras and The Little Prince. His persuasive efforts significantly influenced the U.S. to enter the war.

Despite his declining health and being beyond the permitted age for a war pilot, Saint-Exupéry returned to combat by joining the Free French Air Force in 1943. Tragically, on 31 July 1944, his plane disappeared during a reconnaissance mission over Corsica. Although debris from the wreck was found near Marseille in 2000, the exact cause of the crash remains a mystery.